Machine Type Communications (MTC or M2M) is expanding rapidly and has the potential to generate significant revenues for mobile network operators. MTC Devices are expected to outnumber voice subscribers by at least two orders of magnitude. Some predictions are much higher. MTC enables machines to communicate directly with one another. M2M communication has the potential to radically change the world around us and the way that people interact with machines.
As technology evolves, there are important changes in capabilities and costs. More computing power, memory and communication capabilities make it possible for machines to perform some tasks which were previously performed by human beings. The use of machines instead of human labor is often associated with lower costs. Increasing capabilities and lower costs together may open new opportunities for revenue generating services, which were not previously provided for economical reasons.
MTC devices may be providing a wide variety of features. In the area of home automation, the MTC devices may be providing sensor capabilities such as, sensing temperature, humidity, open/closed/locked doors or windows, energy meters, water meters and similar, as well as various actuators such as for turning on heater/cooler, switching lights or pumps on/off, and similar applications related to home and workplace automation. Another area that can use machine to machine communication is security and surveillance related to homes and offices. Various sensors such as motion sensors, smoke detectors, cameras, etc, are connected to local or central security systems, which in turn are connected to actuators such as sirens, sprinklers, speakers, etc. Another area is automotive where vehicles may include a wide range of different kind of sensors and actuates. Another area is transportation and logistics where both logistics centers as well as vehicles for transportation may contain both sensors and actuators for tracking of or creation of documents at certain toll gates. Material and goods may contain sensors and/or actuators, for example to monitor or control that certain quality requirements are fulfilled, such as temperature or mechanical shock.
In a future “Networked society” scenario, there is expected to be a very large number of MTC devices in the wireless networks, as previously stated. Many of the MTC devices will transmit relatively small amounts of uplink data rather seldom, e.g. 100 bits once per hour. In LTE, there are plans of introducing a new solution for so-called “enhanced MTC coverage” with a target to enable MTC communication in areas where no communication is possible as of today. The target is formulated such as that the LTE link budget should be increased with approximately 20 dB, as compared to what is supported with the legacy LTE standard [3GPP Tdoc RP-121441]. Such a solution for enhanced MTC coverage is expected to make LTE even more attractive for MTC type of solutions, since it would imply that also MTC devices having very unfavorable radio conditions would be enabled to communicate in an LTE network. That is, devices which would not be able to communicate in an LTE network of today, herein called a “legacy” network, due e.g. to unfavorable radio conditions, could be able to communicate in an LTE network supporting enhanced MTC coverage. However, it is not yet clear how this improvement will be achieved. Further, it is not clear how MTC traffic and e.g. legacy data traffic should be coordinated in such a system.